{"id":34284,"date":"2024-02-29T12:03:56","date_gmt":"2024-02-29T17:03:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=34284"},"modified":"2024-02-29T12:03:57","modified_gmt":"2024-02-29T17:03:57","slug":"theatre-auroras-blithe-spirit-a-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/theatre-auroras-blithe-spirit-a-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Theatre Aurora\u2019s Blithe Spirit: A Review"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Theatre Aurora seems to have known when it set up this year\u2019s schedule that around now we would all be in need of a good laugh, and they came through with Noel Coward\u2019s wonderful \u201cBlithe Spirit\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The play tells the story of married couple Charles and Ruth. For a bit of fun, and to obtain material for a book he\u2019s writing, Charles invites eccentric clairvoyant Madame Arcati to his house to conduct a s\u00e9ance. Unfortunately, her skills are better than he imagined, and to everyone\u2019s surprise she conjures up Elvira, his beautiful and mischievous late wife.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Charles\u2019s confusion at dealing with two wives at once, and Ruth\u2019s reaction to this new and invisible competition for her husband\u2019s affections cause no end of amusing complications.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Director Judi Cragg has a wonderful cast for this production, including supporting players Reg Kenny and Andrea Pape as friends the Bradmans, and Riley Nepean as the always frantic maid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Theatre Aurora veteran Kay Valentine is delightful as the slightly offbeat, but always professional Madame Arcati.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Shannon Kenny plays the ghostly Elvira, and nicely portrays the contrasts of her character\u2019s playful nature and her frustration at being stuck between two worlds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As the husband caught in the middle, Clive Lacey brings a lot of the humour to the play, as he struggles to communicate and deal with both wives at once, and at the same time reconcile his love for them both.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But the true standout here is Angela Glaitta as Ruth. The way she delivers her lines, as well as her reactions, body language and facial expressions all combine to bring real heart to a strong woman caught in a bewildering situation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The technical team has done a terrific job with the set, which not only looks great, but allows for quick scene changes to keep things moving.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Theatre Aurora has given us a late winter present of one of Noel Coward\u2019s most popular plays. With wonderful staging, terrific acting, and a script that provides both heart and humour, it would be a shame to miss it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Evening performances of \u201cBlithe Spirit\u201d continue at Theatre Aurora, 150 Henderson Drive, February 29, March 1, 2, 7, 8, 9, with matinees March 2 &amp; 3.\u00a0 Tickets are available through the box office at 905-727-3669.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>By Scott Johnston<\/strong><\/p>\n\r\n<a class=\"synved-social-button synved-social-button-share synved-social-size-24 synved-social-resolution-single synved-social-provider-facebook nolightbox\" data-provider=\"facebook\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\" title=\"Share on Facebook\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.newspapers-online.com%2Fauroran%2Fwp-json%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fposts%2F34284&#038;t=Theatre%20Aurora%E2%80%99s%20Blithe%20Spirit%3A%20A%20Review&#038;s=100&#038;p&#091;url&#093;=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.newspapers-online.com%2Fauroran%2Fwp-json%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fposts%2F34284&#038;p&#091;images&#093;&#091;0&#093;=&#038;p&#091;title&#093;=Theatre%20Aurora%E2%80%99s%20Blithe%20Spirit%3A%20A%20Review\" style=\"font-size: 0px;width:24px;height:24px;margin:0;margin-bottom:5px;margin-right:5px\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Facebook\" title=\"Share on Facebook\" class=\"synved-share-image synved-social-image synved-social-image-share\" width=\"24\" height=\"24\" style=\"display: inline;width:24px;height:24px;margin: 0;padding: 0;border: none;box-shadow: none\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-content\/plugins\/social-media-feather\/synved-social\/image\/social\/regular\/48x48\/facebook.png\" \/><\/a><a class=\"synved-social-button synved-social-button-share synved-social-size-24 synved-social-resolution-single synved-social-provider-twitter nolightbox\" data-provider=\"twitter\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\" title=\"Share on Twitter\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.newspapers-online.com%2Fauroran%2Fwp-json%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fposts%2F34284&#038;text=Like%3F\" style=\"font-size: 0px;width:24px;height:24px;margin:0;margin-bottom:5px;margin-right:5px\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"twitter\" title=\"Share on Twitter\" class=\"synved-share-image synved-social-image synved-social-image-share\" width=\"24\" height=\"24\" style=\"display: inline;width:24px;height:24px;margin: 0;padding: 0;border: none;box-shadow: none\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-content\/plugins\/social-media-feather\/synved-social\/image\/social\/regular\/48x48\/twitter.png\" \/><\/a><a class=\"synved-social-button synved-social-button-share synved-social-size-24 synved-social-resolution-single synved-social-provider-mail nolightbox\" data-provider=\"mail\" rel=\"nofollow\" title=\"Share by email\" href=\"mailto:?subject=Theatre%20Aurora%E2%80%99s%20Blithe%20Spirit%3A%20A%20Review&#038;body=Like%3F:%20https%3A%2F%2Fwww.newspapers-online.com%2Fauroran%2Fwp-json%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fposts%2F34284\" style=\"font-size: 0px;width:24px;height:24px;margin:0;margin-bottom:5px\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"mail\" title=\"Share by email\" class=\"synved-share-image synved-social-image synved-social-image-share\" width=\"24\" height=\"24\" style=\"display: inline;width:24px;height:24px;margin: 0;padding: 0;border: none;box-shadow: none\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-content\/plugins\/social-media-feather\/synved-social\/image\/social\/regular\/48x48\/mail.png\" \/><\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Theatre Aurora seems to have known when it set up this year\u2019s schedule that around now we would all be in need of a good laugh, and they came through with Noel Coward\u2019s wonderful \u201cBlithe Spirit\u201d. The play tells the story of married couple Charles and Ruth. For a bit of fun, and to obtain [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34284","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-8UY","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-17 09:11:45","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34284","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34284"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34284\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34284"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34284"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34284"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}